Pub industry not Darling's 'piggy bank'
The pub industry is not a piggy bank to be raided every time the Chancellor can't make his sums add up.
That's the message from the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers (ALMR) prior to Monday's pre-budget report. Chief executive Nick Bish said the alcohol duty escalator — a promise of a duty rise of 2% above inflation for the next four years — had created a "financial hangover" for pubs.
The ALMR claims that new pub openings have dropped 75% since December 2006 — if that trend was reversed the Chancellor would net an extra £203.5m a year.
"All the evidence shows that the alcohol duty escalator disproportionately affects bars and pubs, to the advantage of supermarkets offering bargain basement offers that fuel the very type of irresponsible drinking the Government claims the duty hikes will stop," said Bish.
"Our industry is not here as a piggy bank to be raided every time Mr. Darling can't make his sums add up. We need positive, innovative thinking — not crude smash and grab raids. If we could get back to the number of openings we had just last year, then the Chancellor could be raising the revenue he wants."
The ALMR wants the Government to instead adopt measures to encourage entrepreneurship. It pointed to its own pub manifesto:
• Stop the alcohol duty escalator.• Business tax reform.• Ban on below cost selling• Cut red tape.
Bish added: "There is action that could be taken right here, right now that would reduce the burden on pubs and increase new openings. That action is outlined in our Pubs Manifesto. Openings are not just in our own interest.
"A viable, profitable pub industry creates jobs, delivers a great service to the public, encourages more responsible drinking and also provides a sustainable revenue stream for the Treasury."
